Goa Diwali eve blast case handed over to NIA

Panaji: The Diwali eve blast in Goa that killed two people has been formally handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), police here said on Thursday.

Four people associated with the Hindu rightwing group Sanatan Sanstha have been arrested in connection with the October 16 blast in Margao.

"NIA has intimated the South Goa district and sessions court on Wednesday that they have taken over the investigation of the blast which occurred on October 16," police spokesperson Atmaram Deshpande told reporters.

"The NIA team is expected to arrive on Monday to take over the investigation from the Goa police special investigation team (SIT)," he added.

The Goa government had ordered setting up of an SIT to probe the blast case, in which two Sanatan Sanstha members died in an accidental explosion while they were ferrying detonator-rigged gelatin sticks.

The SIT has already registered several cases against four members of the group who are presently in its custody.

Meanwhile, another news agency reported on Thursday named two more organization in association with the Margao blast.

The names of these two organisations -- Dharma Prachar Sabha and Hindu Dharma Prathisthan -- had surfaced publicly for the first time since October 16, when a blast triggered panic in the commercial town of Margao in South Goa.

The record furnished on the floor of the House during the state assembly session yesterday has confirmed Patil`s links to these two institutions.

Patil (28), a native of Sangli in Maharashtra, till date was known only for his links with Sanatan Sanstha, a right-wing Hindu organisation operating from Goa`s Ramnathi village. He died when the bomb he had planned to plant triggered prematurely.

Yogesh Patil (29), a Goan native, also died in the blast, which occurred on Diwali eve and was part of a larger conspiracy to trigger serial explosions in the state.

Home Minister Ravi Naik in a statement in the floor of the House said that gelatin sticks, detonators and timer circuits were used to set off the explosion.

He said immediately after the blast Chief Minister Digamber Kamat along with Fatorda constituency legislator Damodar Naik visited the spot.